UTC's Coleman on Payton watch list

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior quarterback B.J. Coleman is one of 20 Football Championship Subdivision players named to the Sports Network's Walter Payton Award preseason watch list released Monday. Coleman, who threw for 2,996 yards and 26 touchdowns last season, is one of 11 quarterbacks on the list. Among the others is Appalachian State's DeAndre Presley, who finished third in the Payton voting last season. Joining Coleman and Presley as Southern Conference representatives on the watch list is Wofford fullback Eric Breitenstein. This is the 25th year of the Payton Award, which is named after the legendary former Jackson State and Chicago Bears running back and is awarded annually to the top player in the FCS. Stephen F. Austin quarterback Jeremy Moses won the award in 2010.

  • The Southern Conference announced its television schedule for the 2011 football season Monday, as well as a new three-year partnership with public television systems in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. UTC has two games on the SoCon schedule - at Georgia Southern on Oct. 8 and at Elon on Oct. 22. Mocs games can be seen in Chattanooga on Georgia Public Broadcasting's Chatsworth/Dalton station, WNGH. SoCon games have been shown on SportSouth in recent years, but the new package, according to the SoCon announcement, puts league games in nearly 11 million homes via 32 affiliates. The SoCon is working on a similar deal for men's and women's basketball.

Basketball

• Recent Hixson High School graduate Randy Boyd has signed enrollment papers to play basketball for Georgia Northwestern Technical College, following another Tennessee player from East Hamilton, Brandon Pratt, along with Dade County's Robbie Chitwood and Houston Moon to the Bobcats. The 6-foot-5 Boyd was a double-digit scorer and an all-region selection as a Hixson senior. "He's used to scoring from inside," GNTC coach David Stephenson said in a Bobcats release. "At Hixson he was half of a pair of big men who helped that team perform well in Tennessee's [District] 6-AA. "He's a star athlete, and people are going to lock in on him on and off the court," said Boyd's AAU coach, Jim Frazier. "The kid can play, and he flat out doesn't like to lose." Boyd referred to both Frazier and Stephenson as "father-figure types" for him.

Golf

• University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore Jordan Britt, a former GPS and Signal Mountain high school standout, jumped to the lead of the 2011 Chattanooga Women's Amateur Championship golf tournament Monday with a first-round 68 at Creeks Bend. Mary Alice Murphy and Emily Javadi are tied for second at 70, three shots ahead of Jessica Cathey and Carol Massey. Deedee Raulston controlled the senior division with an 81, two shots ahead of runner-up Pat Wilson.

• Brooks Thomas took the lead in the William Bryan Memorial Junior Tournament Monday at Lookout Mountain Golf Club with 36.5 points in the first round. Zachary Hester is close behind in the boys' 16-18 age group with 34 points. Scott Stevens also had 34 in leading the 14-15 division, three ahead of Alexander Riddle and Patrick McDonald. Reese Scobey with 32.5, Ben Rebne with 30.5, Justin Hickman with 29 and Sport Allmond with 27.5 head a close 12-13 race going into the final day. Samantha Griffith has a huge margin in girls' play with 33.5 points.

Baseball

• MARIETTA, Ga. - The 17-under Chattanooga Cyclones won their first two pool games in the mammoth Perfect Game World Wood Bat National Championship, 4-2 over the Prospect Stars Blue and 2-0 over the New Jersey Mariners Scout Team, and then tied Texas Blackhawk Baseball 12-12. Brent Smith was the winning pitcher in the first win, when Lee Gibson had thre hits, Michael Allen had a two-run hit and Zach McKelvey had an RBI double and scored a run. Bobby Towne pitched the Cyclones' shutout with nine strikeouts, and Jeff Burke had two hits and an RBI and T.J. Binder had an RBI and a run.

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